


I Guess That's Destiny Doing It Right

by Impossibly_Izzy



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impossibly_Izzy/pseuds/Impossibly_Izzy
Summary: Jake thinks soulmates are a waste of time. Charles thinks his soulmate is Eleanor. They're both wrong.





	I Guess That's Destiny Doing It Right

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this](https://virgno.tumblr.com/post/149729543490/soulmate-au-where-instead-of-having-the-first) soulmate AU, in which your identifying mark isn't the first thing your soulmate says to you, but something random that they'll say at some point.  
> Title is from Barcelona by Ed Sheeran.  
> Enjoy!

Jake had never put much stock in the idea of soulmates. His parents were soulmates, after all, and look at how _that_ had turned out.

He remembered comparing his mark with Gina’s back when they were kids – hers said, _Want me to kill that guy for you?_

‘How come you get such a cool one?’ Jake had complained. ‘Not fair.’

Everyone had one, dark as a tattoo on their left bicep. They were there from the day you were born, until your soulmate said those words, at which point they would burn for a moment and then fade. And what had Jake been stuck with? _These octopus balls are simply succulent._

The thing was, the words weren’t always special. They were just something your soulmate was going to say, in your general vicinity, at some point. It made figuring out who your soulmate was pretty damn confusing.

So Jake had grown up knowing three things: firstly, that you could know someone for years before finding out they were _your_ someone. Secondly, that being soulmates wasn’t a guarantee that things would work out between you. And, thirdly, that his soulmate was a weirdo who liked octopus balls.

Maybe it wasn’t much of a surprise that he wasn’t keen on the whole thing.

 

_Wanna order pizza?_

The words sat there on Charles’ arm, taunting him. How many times had he heard someone say that? Every time, for a fleeting moment, he would think _maybe it’s you._ But the words remained, and Charles remained soulmate-less.

Or, at least, confirmation-less. He was pretty sure it was Eleanor. Maybe the universe was just waiting for the right moment, the right invitation for pizza, to let him know that she was the one.

 

On Jake’s first day at the Nine-Nine, Terry introduced him to Charles, who immediately decided that he and Jake were friends now and launched into a monologue about a new indie restaurant.

‘The sweetbreads I had there were far too dry,’ Charles said, derisively. ‘They should be _succulent_.’

Terry made a face. ‘How do you always make food sound so gross?’

‘I’m not being gross,’ said Charles. ‘You don’t think I’m gross, do you, Jake?’

But all Jake could think about was _succulent_. Could he just have met his soulmate? This short guy in his brown suit, extoling the virtues of weird food?

Once he had thought it, he couldn’t stop thinking it. Some people claimed that the moment they saw their soulmate they knew it was them, but this wasn’t like that. This feeling wasn’t destiny. It was the solution to a problem, a conclusion to the mystery of _who was Jake’s soulmate._ He didn’t have the proof just yet, but Jake was pretty damn sure he was right.

And that’s when he noticed the wedding ring.

Jake’s strategy was to roll with it. He and Charles were partners, and they were friends, and Jake had never been a big believer in soulmates. He focused instead on his job, which he loved, and his growing friendships with the whole squad. He dated around a bit, mostly with people with pretty generic soulmate marks or sceptics like himself.

And then, out of the blue one day, Jake’s mom called and told him that she was dating his dad again.

‘He’s different now,’ she insisted. ‘He’s a better person. And… I think we really are right for each other.’

Jake didn’t really know what to make of that.

 

One night when Eleanor was undressing, Charles saw the unmarked skin of her left arm. She saw where he was looking, and sighed.

‘This isn’t how I wanted to do this,’ she said.

‘Do what?’ said Charles.

‘I’m leaving you,’ Eleanor said. ‘Remember Hercules? He’s my soulmate.’

 

The day after Charles and Eleanor’s divorce was finalised, Jake found him sitting on the floor in the break room eating doughnuts out of a bag.

‘ _Heyyy_ ,’ he said, cautiously. ‘How are you doing?’

Charles sighed. ‘I’m drowning my sorrows in octopus balls.’

Jake sank onto the floor beside him. ‘Well on the upside, you don’t have to worry about me stealing any of them.’ When Charles continued to look morose, Jake said, ‘It’s gonna be okay, man. You’re too good for her.’

‘You’re so nice to me.’ Charles took a dismal bite of octopus doughnut. ‘I don’t deserve it.’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ said Jake. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault you two weren’t soulmates – it’s the stupid universe’s fault.’

‘I guess,’ said Charles. He offered him the bag.

 ‘I’m good,’ said Jake.

‘Go on,’ said Charles. ‘These octopus balls are simply succulent.’

Pain shot through Jake’s left arm like hot metal had brushed against his skin.

‘No, really,’ he said. He was trying desperately to play it cool, and thankfully the pain was fading as fast as it had appeared.

When he undressed that night, Jake looked at the blank, writing-free skin of his left arm. It wasn’t a revelation, it was only confirmation of what he had almost known for years. Charles was his soulmate. And, right now, he was grieving the end of a relationship with someone else.

 

It was hard, getting over Eleanor. But at least Charles had work, and his growing friendship with Rosa, and most importantly his friendship with _Jake_. They worked well as partners, and they spent an increasing amount of time hanging out after work. Charles was eternally grateful to have Jake as his best friend.

As time went by, Charles found himself thinking about Eleanor less and less often. He solved cases. He went to Shaw’s with the squad. They got a new captain.

By the time something changed, he wasn’t thinking about his soulmate much at all.

 

It was a Saturday evening, after a long and tiring day of work that had ended in Jake and Charles finally getting a signed confession from a perp. They were sprawled on Jake’s couch, still reeling from the day’s events and barely paying attention to the TV in front of them.

‘Wanna order pizza?’ Jake said.

‘Ow,’ said Charles. Jake looked up, because that was _not_ a normal response to that question, and Charles was rubbing his left arm with his brow furrowed.

This was _it_ , Jake realised. The moment everyone was waiting for, the moment he had spent so long telling himself he didn’t care about. Their moment.

‘ _That’s_ what yours said?’ he said. ‘That’s so lame. Why couldn’t it have been, I don’t know, ‘ _welcome to the party, pal’_? I say so many cool things!’

‘You don’t seem surprised,’ Charles said. ‘Did you… did you know?’

‘Yeah.’ Jake rubbed his own arm, remembering the words there. ‘Mine’s gone – it happened ages ago.’

‘What was it?’

‘“These octopus balls are simply succulent”,’ Jake said.

Charles nodded. ‘Certainly sounds like me. So… why didn’t you say anything?’

‘You’d just split up with Eleanor, and I didn’t… I mean, you know how I felt about soulmates. And how do you even talk about that? Like, hey man, I know we’re just buds but apparently we’re destined for each other?’

 

Destined for each other. Charles and Jake. Why hadn’t he seen it before?

‘It’s okay,’ Charles said. The pain was fading from his arm, but he was half-heartedly rubbing it anyway. And maybe he should have been annoyed at Jake for not telling him before, but he just couldn’t bring himself to be. ‘I get it. We should… do you still want to get that pizza?’

‘I kind of feel like we should do something bigger?’ said Jake. ‘But also, yes.’

They ordered pizza. It was the pivotal moment in Charles’ life that he had been waiting for since he could remember, and it had pineapple on it.

It was good: just the two of them, sitting on the couch with their legs touching, eating pizza. It felt like they’d been doing it forever. And Charles thought that maybe he could imagine doing it for the rest of his life.

‘I always thought that soulmates were dumb,’ Jake said, when the pizza was finished. They were sitting sideways so that they could look at each other properly, and the sun had gone down outside until Jake’s face was lit only by fairy lights and the now-muted TV. ‘My parents are soulmates, and they split up when I was a kid. I was mad at my dad for, like… actually, I’m still kind of mad at him. But they’re back together now. They seem happy together.’

‘I always wanted to find my soulmate,’ said Charles.

Jake smiled. ‘I know. And I didn’t… but I’m glad I found mine.’

That smile, those words. There was a warm glow in Charles’ chest, spreading outwards through his body. ‘So what do we do now?’ he said.

‘I mean, you only just found out about this whole being soulmates thing,’ Jake said. ‘You can take however much time you need to-’

‘Can I kiss you?’ said Charles. He’d had all the time he wanted – too much time. Right now all he wanted was Jake.

‘Uh, _yeah_ ,’ said Jake.

Charles pressed his lips tentatively to Jake’s. For some reason he thought it might feel weird, but of course it didn’t. This moment had already been written for them, by the markings on their arms. By the universe. He sank into the kiss, into Jake, into this moment.

And, of course this had been where he was headed. He had spent his whole life waiting to arrive at this point, never expecting that his destination would be _Jake_. Jake, who was cupping his face in his hands. Jake, whose skin felt so soft under Charles’ hands.

When Jake unbuttoned Charles shirt, he ran the tips of his fingers over his left arm, where the words used to be. _Wanna order pizza?_ The writing was gone, replaced with something infinitely better.

 

‘I’m exhausted,’ Amy complained, coming into work a few weeks later.

‘Up all night _doing something_?’ said Jake, suggestively.

‘No, I wish,’ said Amy. ‘My upstairs neighbour’s taken up street dance or something and he always seems to be practising when I’m trying to sleep.’

‘Want me to kill that guy for you?’ said Rosa.

At her desk, Gina rubbed her arm, staring at Rosa like the pieces of a puzzle were finally falling into place.

**Author's Note:**

> Holt's probably said something like 'would you like another plain scone?'  
> I love writing a pairing where I can write a soulmate AU and... nobody has done it before!


End file.
